Disclaimer: i own nothing, but my plot.
Chapter Three
Now the Stabbington Brothers weren't as stupid as everyone assumed, though most of their big plans had come from Rider they had their little pieces of inspiration now and then. They knew they shouldn't trust Rider implicitly. They knew that if they didn't keep an eye on him he would screw them over far too quickly for either to realise what had happened. They knew how to think quickly, not in the same league as Rider, but in their own… special way. While Rider was the most wanted thief in the kingdom due to his cunning, his quickness and his fondness of seducing fine ladies out of their finer jewels the Stabbington Brothers were wanted for violent crimes. They worked best with their fists and their blades. Everyone who saw Rider with the twin thought he was never armed as both brothers carried large broad swords, but Rider was clever. He knew he would be less likely to blend in with an obvious weapon, so he carried two daggers on his person at all times, but rarely used them. The brothers on the other hand. They had killed six guards during their last solo heist, plus the son of a Lord. This gave them their most wanted title. There was also an unfortunate incident with the Lord's daughter. Truth be told it would have been better for her if they had killed her afterwards. They had ruined her completely. Rider didn't like this turn of events, but he being smarter also knew that he would never pull off the big jobs without the brothers. That's why he came up with the plan to betray them, so to finally stop being associated with these violent thugs.
The first thing the brothers did when they got to the city was to scout around the water edge surrounding it. The only thing unusual they found was an empty boat floating around. Then they searched the water edge inside the city. This was slightly harder due to the guards and the revellers, but they had been successful thieves for the past fifteen years for a reason. They managed to stick to the shadows easily, which was surprising for their size. When they eventually got to the docks the only odd thing they saw was a horse, sitting down on the dock. They had no idea that horses could sit. The youngest brother, Jack, the one with the eye patch thought that horse did look familiar. But, then again, it was a white horse most of them looked really alike so he thought nothing of it. They then had to gather their wits and thoughts. These were the obvious places for Rider to hide, but Rider wasn't obvious. They thought back through all the time that they've known him. There were a few places in the city that Rider could hide inns and taverns mostly. There was also some abandoned buildings were they all had hidden out. These seemed logical, so they got out there map and decided that these were where they would go next after the celebration had died down. After the celebration they knew that the guards tended to be less frequent and the streets more or less deserted. So all they had to do was find a dark corner in a dark bar and wait.
The boat which was thought to be deserted only appeared so due to the fact that the occupants were lying across the seats looking up at the brilliant night sky and taking about everything that needed to be explained to a very naïve and trusting Rapunzel.
"Is the plague still a problem?" She asked
"Not for a very, very long time." Eugene answered.
"What about cannibals?" She asked with fear in her voice.
"I can honestly say I've never seen or even heard about a cannibal in this or any of the neighbouring kingdoms." Eugene replied, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice. Her mother had really corrupted her thoughts, no wonder she had never left that tower. According to her mother everything was horrible and there was nothing in the world worth seeing. He knew he had to change that. The world was wonderful, though he had never realised it before. Maybe because he was now seeing it through her wide eyed wonder.
"What about snakes? Large bugs? Or quicksand?"
"Only the poisonous ones, on both counts and quicksand is very easily avoided."
"So, men don't have pointy teeth?"
"That's just ridiculous," he said before looking at her sad face.
"She lied about so much," Rapunzel eventually said through a deep heavy sigh.
"What else did she tell you?" Eugene eventually asked, knowing that he was about to open a huge can of worms, but someone had to tell her the truth.
She looked up at him with her big green eyes and told him everything that Gothel had told her. Everything from how people had tried to use her for her powers when she was a baby, to the horrid people who destroyed her father. About everything in the world that would hurt her, to the horrid facts about her own body. He felt sorry for everything that she thought she knew. He tried to explain things to her, but there was far too much and the night was wearing on. He saw that she was starting to fall asleep against him and though he wanted to keep her with him forever he knew that they would need a good night's sleep if he was going to show her everything that she was missing and what had been denied from her. He had no idea how he was going to do this, but thought the book store was the best place to start tomorrow. That way he could show her pure, hard facts, so she didn't just have to listen to his own opinion. He didn't want to corrupt her, Gothel had done that to her already. This is why when she mentioned about her monthly bleeding and about sex he didn't give her his opinion on that. He loved women, and loved having women. Sex was something to be completely enjoyed, but now he saw that he was using them. He didn't want to do that to her, he wanted her to be completely at ease and wanted her to want to make love, not just have sex. He knew that this topic was going to be hard, as he wanted her more badly than he wanted anyone in his entire life. He didn't want to take advantage of her, or scare her. This would only prove to her that her mother was right, and that was something that should never happen.
"Come on," Eugene said sitting up and grabbing the paddle, "We should find somewhere to sleep tonight, you look like your about to drop off at any minute." And with that he started to paddle back towards Maximus. He helped Rapunzel up onto Max, then handed her Pascal, who had fallen asleep at some point. He then climbed up behind her. There was an inn he knew, and the owner would give them a room. It would be nice to give her a good bed for the night. With any luck there would be two beds in the room, he didn't want too much temptation.
